Technical Vocational Education and Training 2010-2015, Independent Impact Evaluation
Mongolia, 2010 - 2015
Get MicrodataIdentification
MNG_2010-2015_MCC-TVET_v01_M
Technical Vocational Education and Training 2010-2015
Independent Impact Evaluation
| Name | Country code |
|---|---|
| Mongolia | MNG |
Evaluation design
The impact evaluation sought to identify the causal impact of exposure to equipment upgrades on subsequent outcomes. Insofar as we were not able to randomly assign upgraded equipment across schools or trades, we could not estimate the impact of exposure to equipment upgrades directly. However, the gradual rollout of equipment upgrades to TVET schools over time implied that individuals in later cohorts studying trades affected by equipment upgrades were exposed to these upgrades for longer than individuals in earlier cohorts. Taking advantage of this gradual rollout, we proceeded to estimate the impact of exposure to upgraded equipment in three steps: First, we randomly assigned applicants to trades in 10 TVET schools that were generally oversubscribed, receiving more applicants than they could accommodate each year. This enabled us to estimate the causal impact of admission to trades affected by equipment upgrades for the 2010, 2011, and 2012 admission cohorts. Then we compared the impact of admission to trades affected by upgrades on outcomes in earlier and later cohorts to estimate the impact of exposure to upgrades.
The random assignment of applicants to trades in 10 TVET schools also enables us to evaluate the impact of admission to a TVET school which is important for assessing the value of technical and vocational education in Mongolia. Therefore, this evaluation is focused both on the impact of exposure to equipment upgrades and the impact of admission to a TVET school.
Findings
We find that admission to oversubscribed TVET schools leads to significant improvements in employment and earnings, especially for women. These improvements are likely due to the acquisition of more skills in specific trades, greater work intensity, and increased employment opportunities in high-paying sectors. These findings are consistent with the presence of a shortage of vocational students in Mongolia - one of the key assumptions underpinning the choice of the TVET sector as a focus of the Mongolia Compact. Moreover, they suggest that expanding access to TVET schools would have large benefits for prospective students, and for women in particular.
We do not find evidence for positive impacts of exposure to upgraded equipment on employment or earnings. There is also no evidence for impacts on intermediate or other outcomes. Why do we not find positive impacts from exposure to upgraded equipment? One possible explanation is that labor market opportunities for those who studied upgraded or improved trades deteriorated relative to those who studied other trades. Indeed, there is some evidence for a general deterioration of labor market opportunities for individuals admitted to TVET schools in the 2012 cohort. Unfortunately, since we were not able to randomly assign upgraded equipment across schools or trades, we cannot rule out these alternative explanations for the absence of positive impacts. Future evaluations should heed the challenges inherent in research designs that do not rely solely on random assignment.
Sample survey data [ssd]
Individuals
Version
Anonymized dataset for public distribution
Scope
| Topic |
|---|
| Basic skill education |
Coverage
National coverage
12,000 15-17 year old applicants to 10 oversubscribed TVET schools in urban and peri-urban Mongolia
Producers and sponsors
| Name |
|---|
| Innovations for Poverty Action |
| Name |
|---|
| Millennium Challenge Corporation |
Sampling
About 12,000 applicants to ten TVET schools across Mongolia. The schools were selected because they had more applicants than places. A series of public admissions lotteries were held for the 2010, 2011 and 2012 applicants at all schools. Admitted students formed the treatment group, rejected students the control group.
12,000 applicants to 10 TVET schools were interviewed during the three baseline data collection cycles. The study's main instrument, the Graduate Follow Up survey, was administered to 10,950 (91 percent) of the original applicants.
Survey instrument
Students were recruited over three annual cohorts, covering applicants to both 1 year and 2-2.5 year programs. We administered three types of survey instruments to students during the period of study from 2010 and 2015.
-
Admissions surveys: During the application process to TVET schools, students completed an Admissions survey in which they provided demographic information and took a simple aptitude test that IPA developed together with the TVET schools. These surveys were administrated in 2010, 2011, and 2012 for their respective cohorts of applicants.
-
Graduate Follow-Up (GFU) surveys: In the year following their expected graduation, each student completed an in-person Graduate Follow-Up (GFU) survey. This was approximately 2 years after admission for students who applied to 1 year programs and 3 years after admission for students who applied for 2-2.5 year programs. This survey collected information on educational and job-related outcomes as well as a written trade-based skills test and further questions about asset ownership, expenditures, and other household activities.
-
Tracking surveys: in years before and after the GFU survey, and up to 2015, students took part in a phone-based Tracking survey to update contact information and to collect basic information on their educational and job-related achievements.
In addition to the student surveys, an Administrative survey was conducted with teachers and administrators at about 50 TVET institutions over three years to capture characteristics such as school size, funding and availability and utilization of equipment. We also surveyed teachers and administrators for their view and perceptions of the VET project. Administrative survey data are used to compare school-level outcomes between evaluation schools and other TVET schools.
Data collection
| Start | End | Cycle |
|---|---|---|
| 2010-05-01 | 2010-09-01 | Baseline (2010 Cohort) |
| 2011-05-01 | 2011-09-01 | Baseline (2011 Cohort) |
| 2012-05-01 | 2012-09-01 | Baseline (2012 cohort) |
| 2013-03-01 | 2013-09-01 | Graduate Follow Up (2010 cohort) |
| 2014-03-01 | 2014-09-01 | Graduate Follow Up (2011 cohort) |
| 2015-03-01 | 2015-09-01 | Graduate Follow Up (2012 cohort) |
| 2013-03-01 | 2013-09-01 | Tracking (2011 and 2012 cohorts) |
| 2014-03-01 | 2014-09-01 | Tracking (2010 and 2012 cohorts) |
| 2015-03-01 | 2015-09-01 | Tracking (2010 and 2011 cohorts) |
| 2013-09-01 | 2013-09-01 | Administrative surveys (2013 cycle) |
| 2014-09-01 | 2014-09-01 | Administrative surveys (2014 cycle) |
| Name |
|---|
| Mongolian Marketing Consulting Group |
Access policy
Millennium Challenge Corporation
Millennium Challenge Corporation
http://data.mcc.gov/evaluations/index.php/catalog/82
Cost: None
Data Access
Linden, Leigh, Field, Erica, Wang, Shing-Yi, Rubenson, Daniel. Innovations for Poverty Action (2014). TVET Admissions Baseline Data [Data file].
Contacts
| Name | |
|---|---|
| Monitoring & Evaluation Division of the Millennium Challenge Corporation | impact-eval@mcc.gov |
Metadata production
DDI_MNG_2010-2015_MCC-TVET_v01_M
| Name | Role |
|---|---|
| Millennium Challenge Corporation | Review of Metadata |
| Innovations for Poverty Action | Metadata Producer |
2014-04-07
Metadata version
Version 3.0
2020-07-31
Version 1 (April 2014).
Version 2.0 (May 2015). Edited version based on Version 01 (DDI-MCC-MNG-IPA-EDU-2014-V1) that was done by Millennium Challenge Corporation.
Version 3.0 (July 2020). Edited version based on Version 2 (DDI-MNG-IPA-TVET-2017-v2) that was done by Millennium Challenge Corporation. This is an updated version that provides data description of the follow-up and tracking surveys.